So many things have happened already, and our young team has learned so much in building a business that strives to embody the values of social entrepreneurship. We have been involving volunteers and interns in our work, and they have helped us build our enterprise to where it is now, and for that we are grateful!

In the end, there is still so much more work to be done. But here are 5 reasons why joining our team at this point in time is more exciting and different from before:

1. We’re gearing for bigger growth!

Admittedly, we are still not as big as people think we are. But our goals are still definitely bigger than ever! We have nationwide partnerships with stores outside Metro Manila, (Cebu, Davao, South Luzon, Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Bacolod, and soon Boracay). We exported our first shipment to the Middle East early this year and are actively looking forward to partnerships with distributors in US, Australia, UK and Japan.

You will be surprised what a lean team of young entrepreneurs can do to make that happen.

If we can get more passionate and stellar team mates on board to push more excellence in our marketing work, we can even reach more shores, and achieve more sales to channel back to the our community partners.

Although we don’t promise a walk in the park (it rarely is!), but we strive to open the eyes of those we work with to the awesome journey of entrepreneurship, as we ourselves learn how to build a business that strives to achieve positive social impact.

3. More mentors involved

We have amazing partnerships brewing with mentors from CBS (Consulting Business Services for Social Enterprises of the Benita & Catalino Yap Foundation), our alma mater Ateneo de Manila University, and partner organizations who have been with us right from the beginning (Philippine Business for Social Progress, Ayala Foundation, etc.)

4. Collaborative Projects

Take part in our upcoming collaborative projects with fellow social enterprises:

One of the key pillars of our efforts this year is our #LiveYourStory Campaign. It is an advocacy that aims to empower our customers to live the story that they always wanted to live. To create their own story, connect with the stories of others, and empower more people through their stories shared. It roots back to our own experience in Jacinto & Lirio — how we stumbled on this amazing story of the water hyacinth plant (a nusiance that was turned into a material of elegance), that was transformed by community artisans into beautiful products that in turn empower both those who buy it, and those who created it.

We know a lot of people need to live their own stories as well. Being part of our team, will allow you to be part of this movement in getting people to #LiveYourStory! Of course, we are set on embodying this as well, so you will get to LIVE YOUR OWN STORY as you grow with our team.

Krz Lopez is a girl with big dreams in her heart! She is part of the team behind the game-changing crowdfunding site — TheSparkProject.com.

Here she is with the Kwaderno Pacem Journal which was shot in her trip to attend a Startup event in Singapore.

Krz shares why she is passionate about the work she does for TheSparkProject:

What I’m most passionate about TheSparkProject is the amazement I always feel knowing that there are a lot of good ideas out there which are implementable, and which, if you give them full support, can even go beyond their limits. What amazes me more is that there are a lot more generous people who are open to these ideas and would really share their resources to make those spark projects happen.

What’s your advice for Filipinos who want to make their ideas but feel a lot of restrictions surrounding them to make it happen?

While it’s true that there [are] many uncertainties out there to make your ideas happen, one certainty you can hold on to is that there are quite a lot of people who can and will support you along the way. So, pitch your idea to as many people as you can and jump!

Today was a tiring but purposeful day for me. My entire day was spent visiting Ecoingenuity Inc.’s community partners in Rizal.

My first stop was in Cainta, Rizal. Inside my car, I immediately noticed the water hyacinth filled lake behind their houses.It’s been quite a while since I last saw fresh water hyacinths.

Our Cainta Community recently moved out from the government’s leadership and is now an independent organization ran by their local NGO. It seemed like a good thing from an outsider’s point of view, but it actually is a scary beginning for our nanays since this is their first time to apply the piece rate scheme unlike their previous day rate salary scheme.

The Jacinto & Lirio Impact night last May 16, gave us a lot to think about! There were many interesting input from the audience as they tackled the 3 things that our whole enterprise (EcoIngenuity Inc.) is trying to solve —

The fact that our country is innately blessed with abundant indigenous materials and talented craftsmen, weavers, & bag-makers.

But despite this, there are 3 gaps:

1.Philippines still does not play a competitive role in the global design industry

2.Our indigenous materials are undermined and untapped

3.Most of our artisans / bag makers, etc are still living in poverty in the Philippines

The audience was divided to brainstorm for the 3 problems challenge areas.

Some of them we’re already working hard on! But we like what they mentioned!

* On growing the Filipino global competitive brand — a group talked about engaging our fellow Filipinos overseas since we’re everywhere! This is something we’re already trying to do, especially with the girltank campaign — reaching out to many Filipinos worldwide about social enterprises like us and the work that we’re doing! Hopefully they get to invest so we can do more good work (hope you can support! we have a few days left to raise funds for our social impact work. Click here)!

* On optimizing our indigneous materials — we loved Sir Vic’s input on the “ting-ting” material. We’d definitely take you up on that Sir, to explore the material more!

* On the sustainability of our community partners — one group mentioned the creation of a concept paper so we can strategically and effectively execute our plans towards this complex problem. We’re hoping that they can help us do this! It’s not our core competence, but we do agree it needs to happen!

I’m sure YOU have an interesting tidbit to share?

What would you like us to know so we can make a bigger, better impact?